Vance answers bishops on immigration, says admin pursuing ‘commonsense’ law enforcement

CV NEWS FEED // In an interview that aired Sunday, Vice President JD Vance said he was “heartbroken” by a recent statement from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops against his administration’s efforts to address humanitarian issues stemming from the illegal immigration crisis. 

In the wide-ranging interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Vance also pointed to the bishops’ financial ties to the status quo and spoke against the migrant child sex trafficking that the new administration is trying to address through “commonsense” law enforcement.

“The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops [USCCB] this week condemned some of the executive orders signed by President Trump,” Brennan said, “specifically those allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enter churches and to enter schools. Do you personally support the idea of conducting a raid or enforcement action in a church service, at a school?”

“As a practicing Catholic, I was actually heartbroken by that statement,” Vance answered in part. “And I think that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops needs to actually look in the mirror a little bit and recognize that when they receive over $100 million to help resettle illegal immigrants, are they worried about humanitarian concerns, or are they actually worried about their bottom line?”

Vance added later in the interview, “I think the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has, frankly, not been a good partner in common sense immigration enforcement that the American people voted for, and I hope, again, as a devout Catholic, that they’ll do better.”

The USCCB statement to which Brennan referred in her interview with Vance was a joint statement issued the previous Thursday by USCCB Committee on Migration Chairman Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Catholic Health Association CEO Sr. Mary Haddad, RSM, and Catholic Charities USA Executive Director Kerry Alys Robinson.

As CatholicVote reported at the time, the statement objected that “non-emergency immigration enforcement in these locations ‘would be contrary to the common good,’” and has already “discouraged immigrants from participating in religious services and sending children to school, the officials said.

“We’re going to enforce immigration law,” Vance said in his Sunday interview. “We’re going to protect the American people. Donald Trump promised to do that.” 

“And I believe the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, if they’re worried about the humanitarian costs of immigration enforcement, let them talk about the children who have been sex trafficked because of the wide open border of Joe Biden,” Vance added.

“Let them talk about people like Laken Riley, who are brutally murdered,” he continued. “I support us doing law enforcement against violent criminals, whether they’re illegal immigrants or anybody else, in a way that keeps us safe.”

Vance went on to suggest that law enforcement against violent offenders who are illegal immigrants is not much different than law enforcement against criminals who are not illegal immigrants. 

“If you had a violent murderer in a school, of course I want law enforcement to go and get that person out,” he said.

“Of course,” Brennan agreed.

“So then what’s the point of the question?” Vance asked.

“You changed the regulation this week, that’s the point of the question,” Brennan said, “giving the authority to go into churches and go into schools…”

“Yes, exactly,” Vance said. “We empowered law enforcement to enforce the law everywhere, to protect Americans.”

When Brennan suggested that such enforcement could have a “chilling effect,” Vance replied: “I desperately hope it has a chilling effect on illegal immigrants coming into our country.”